Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault, who has withdrawn, said the code of conduct impeded free and frank discussion. One of the questions she was going to raise at her session was: \u201cHow do you see censorship in literature playing out in the world at the moment?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a time for silence,\u201d Mildenhall said.<\/p>\n
Author Sonia Orchard, who describes Bendigo as \u201cone of Victoria\u2019s best writers\u2019 festivals\u201d, said she withdrew, \u201cmostly in order to show my solidarity with Palestinian writers, who will naturally feel silenced and their trauma dismissed by the code of conduct document issued yesterday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is also because I have been asked to speak at the festival on a topic about stopping violence against women and children, and it feels impossible to do this while knowing that the university has chosen to align itself with ideas and factions that condone such large-scale violence against women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writer Claire G Coleman wrote to festival organisers that \u201cthe way you have handled this is disturbing, you are working with writers, authors and artists, many of whom are people of colour and\/or Indigenous. I respectfully ask you to do better in future, to consider that to many writers our freedom of speech is more important than any festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
The code of conduct required participants to commit to La Trobe University\u2019s Anti-Racism Plan, a 17-page document, which accepts the Universities Australia definition of antisemitism. That definition has not been accepted by all universities<\/a> and has been the subject of controversy, with some arguing that it unreasonably restricts criticism of Israel.\u00a0<\/a>The definition states that criticism of Israel is not itself antisemitic.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHowever criticism of Israel can be antisemitic when it is grounded in harmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions and when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel or all Jews or when it holds Jewish individuals or communities responsible for Israel\u2019s actions,\u201d a UA statement earlier this year said.<\/a><\/p>\n